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The shipyards of Mon Calamari came into being several thousand years before the Battle of Yavin,[12] when the people of Dac, particularly the Mon Calamari, began to dream about what lay beyond their own world.
Together they constructed several orbital facilities, which were used to study techniques ranging from zero-gravity manufacturing to starship propulsion. This began the first construction of starliners which explored first the Calamari system and later surrounding worlds, including Ruisto and Mantan, which were eventually colonized. The Quarren also established asteroid mining colonies to supply Mon Calamari with additional resources.[1]

In time, the world became encircled with shipyards and construction facilities, as well as some secret facilities hidden underwater on the planet's surface. These would prove useful millennia later when the Galactic Empire invaded the planet.[1]

It was starliners from Mon Calamari that first stumbled across Galactic Republic exploration vessels. Despite the level of advanced technology that they discovered, Republic explorers did not fully grasp the ability of the world's shipyards. Mon Calamari designs were seldom seen outside the Calamari sector, though this changed when they came to the attention of CountDooku.[1]

As the Separatist movement grew, CIS leader Count Dooku visited Dac. Upon seeing the vessels that they were able to build, Dooku judged the shipyards as advanced and sophisticated as the great yards of Fondor or Gyndine. Yet, when Dooku tried to recruit Dac and its advanced shipyards to join his growing movement, they resisted.[1] Angered, Dooku unleashed the Dark Reaper weapon on the world, which severely damaged its shipyards.[13]

However, although the vast majority of Mon Calamarians supported Palpatine, there were several pro-Separatist members who attempted to liberate the shipyards, eventually cumulating in several exiled shipwrights aiding the Separatists in designing their Providence-class carriers/destroyers by revising the Rendili Dreadnaught.[16]

The rise of the Galactic Empire brought enslavement and control onto the Mon Calamari and Quarren. The shipyards became a valuable prize to the Empire, which wanted them for maintaining a substantial military presence able to subdue any resistance on Mon Calamari, as well as maintain control over the neighboring Tion worlds and the outlying planets of the Perlemian Trade Route.[1] Likewise, Grand MoffWilhuff Tarkin, after subjugating the system, also attempted to retool the shipyards for Imperial use.[16]

Yet, this dream never fully materialized, as Imperial engineers struggled to adapt Mon Calamari tools and equipment. This was an impossible task, as everything from smelting techniques to arcfusers were designed for Mon Cal and Quarren physiology. After a few failed experiments in using the yards to build warships for the Empire, the project was scrapped when the Imperial High Command deemed it too expensive. The shipyards sat idle as the Mon Calamari quietly plotted to restore their freedom.[1] Despite this, Tarkin, because of his admiration of the then-current MC80 cruisers for their elegant winged hullforms, allowed the Mon Calamari to build variants of the vessels as luxury starliners for Galaxy Tours and Kaliida & Rimward, to which the Mon Cal shipwrights later repaid him by developing every component of these new liners as a prototype for future warships.[16]

Once the Mon Calamari managed to overthrow their Imperial oppressors, the shipyards began to modify their massive starliners into combat-capable warships. Their victory became a beacon of hope to other planets, and Rebel warships moved into the Calamari Sector to aid in its defense.[1]

With help from their new Rebel allies, the Mon Calamari began to build more powerful cruisers. When the Mon Calamari voted to become open members of the Alliance, Rebel technicians were dispatched to learn from and aid the Mon Cals in constructing warships for the Rebel fleet. While the shipyards specialized in their own Star Cruisers, they were adapted to produce corvettes and frigates as well. It was said that a single yard could produce one frigate or corvette a month, while the larger Star Cruisers could each be turned out in six months.[3] The total ship production in the sector grew at a staggering pace.[1]

The MC80 Home One type Star Cruiser and MC80 Liberty type Star Cruiser went on to become the mainstays of the Alliance navy, with ships serving with distinction in numerous battles, including the climactic Battle of Endor.[17] By the time of the Battle of Endor, the Mon Calamari Shipyards had produced eight new heavy cruisers based on the Kuari Princess design, and nearly 50 escorts — which was even more impressive of an achievement considering a good chunk of the shipyard's resources were used for starfighter construction at the same time.[16]

The shipyards suffered damage during the attacks of the Empire's fearsome World Devastators,[18] as well as some minor damage a year later during an attack by Imperial AdmiralDaala.[19] Still, these setbacks did not deter the Mon Calamari shipyards. They were repaired and expanded.

The shipyards were a key resource for the New Republic during the Yuuzhan Vong War. The yards continued to produce powerful battle cruisers and Star Defenders as the New Republic military beefed up in response to the invasion. Even after being cut off from the rest of the New Republic when the Yuuzhan Vong pierced the Perlemian Trade Route, the shipyards kept up production, sending new units to the front lines via secret hyperspace routes.

Following the Battle of Coruscant, the yards became a even more vital asset as the government relocated to the water world. As the New Republic began to reorganize into the Galactic Alliance, the shipyards worked at a feverish pace to replenish and replace losses sustained earlier in the war.

With most of the major shipbuilding worlds of the galaxy under Yuuzhan Vong control, the Mon Calamari shipyards were the most important manufacturing asset to the New Republic. At the end of the war, the Mon Calamari and their shipyards were hailed as a symbol of idealism and determination in the face of danger.[20]

But the trap was really set for the Empire. While the Alliance Fleet and the shipyard's guns (which had been hacked by a member of Rogue Squadron) devastated the task force of the Outer Rim Third Fleet, the stormtroopers that had re-seized the Imperious were actually Alliance troops, under the command of the ex-stormtrooper Hondo Karr. The ship was stolen and was successfully delivered to one of the Remnant's bases.[22] There, the Galactic Alliance Remnant began the process of bringing its weapon systems online.[23]
The shipyards, meanwhile, were devastated during the battle, when Jaius Yorub rammed the Indomitable into them, destroying a third of the yards and damaging another quarter.[22]

Following the defeat of the One Sith, a large number of Quarren and Mon Calamari were lured back to Dac under the pretext that the planet was being "renewed". Instead, these unfortunate Quarren and Mon Calamari were enslaved by a pirate syndicate led by the rogue Sith Darth Luft, who forced them to build a fleet of ships in the remnants of the Mon Calamari Shipyards.[24]

Remnants of the Mon Calamari Shipyards.

However, the Quarren Tikin and the Mon Calamari Luen encountered the Imperial KnightJao Assam and the junk dealer Ania Solo, who learnt about their predicament and quickly transmitted word of the pirates and their slaving operation to the Triumvirate authorities in Coruscant.[24] Later, Tikin was murdered by Darth Luft and his death triggered a slave uprising by the Quarren and Mon Calamari, who joined forces to rebel against the pirates.[25] This uprising coincided with an attack by the Galactic Triumvirate led by Admiral Stazi and the Imperial Knight Yalta Val, who liberated the slaves and apprehended the pirates. Darth Luft himself was killed during a duel by Jao Assam. The Quarren and Mon Calamari then settled in the space station, which had been flooded with water by Admiral Stazi, to provide a comfortable atmosphere for the former slaves.[26]